On January 12th of this year, a good friend of mine passed away. He was my best friend's fiance and I have known him since my freshman year of high school. Michael had Cystic Fibrosis, which is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections; and obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food. Mike was diagnosed with this horrible disease at four months of age.
On January 8th, Mike went into the hospital for routine check ups and CF maintenance. He was to finally be put on the active list for a double lung transplant at the end of that week, after three long years of fighting for that position. The next morning, his doctors entered his room to find him unconcious and not breathing. They were able to revive him after twelve minutes and he was placed on a ventilator. Throughout the day his fever spiked and he began having seizures every few minutes. These continued for the better part of the day. They finally subsided enough for them to run some tests on Mike, to see how much damage had been done. It is unknown how long he was without oxygen before the doctors found him. After an extensive Cat Scan, it was determined that there were two small, but very deep, spots on Mike's brain. An EEG (like an EKG, but for brain function instead of heart) was administered, with preliminary results stating there was no brain activity. They set up another EEG to be performed over 24 hours, which confirmed that Michael was gone. After an MRI, he was legally declared brain dead.
As per Mike's wishes, the decision was made to discontinue life support. On Friday the 11th, a small number of us were allowed to see Mike. There was a small, informal ceremony performed to celebrate Kendra and Mike's union, as she had promised him they would be married before he died. The ceremony was beautiful and Kendra thought Mike could feel us there. On Saturday, Mike was taken off of life support. After 18 minutes he passed away quietly in Kendra's arms and surrounded by his loved ones. They are unsure what caused Mike to go into cardiac and pulmonary arrest just four days previous, and the autopsy was inconclusive. He was 25 years young.
Mike was an amazing man- genuine, kind-hearted, brutally honest, and a great friend. He was one of the most unique individuals I have had the priviledge of knowing, and his carefree attitude and fantastic sense of humor will be greatly missed. This kid could make you laugh on even the darkest of your days and always had something clever up his sleeve. We all loved him and we miss him dearly.
Kendra, Hayley and I will be walking in the Great Strides for CF walk on May 7th, 2008. We must raise $1,500 to participate and have already reached $600. Hopefully we will continue to receive donations and will reach $1,500 if not more! We are very excited about doing this in memory of Mike. A cure MUST be found so the numerous families do not have to experience the pain we have all gone through over the past two weeks.
Michael Neal Perryman
11.11.82 - 01.12.08
Breathe easy, my friend.
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